Demon Duelist Legacy Elemental Champions Arc
by Wolf General
Summary: Team Topdeck and company returns to a new adventure, this one against a group aiming to open the gate to a world of dreams...no matter the cost.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh. I do own Team Topdeck, as well as all of the character's you'll be seeing up to this point.

Demon Duelist Legacy-Elemental Champions Arc

Chapter 1: Rumble in Reno; Mysterious Enemy vs. Daniel

"Cyber-Stein is cheap crap and you know it!" Everyone sitting in the rows near the four sources of the howling argument quickly relocated, trying to get out of range of the yelling voices. Unfortunately, that was impossible.

"You're just jealous because you don't own any, that's all!" Janeam Hawkins, dressed in a fine black button-up shirt and pants in an attempt to look classy, leaned in a little to point at the chest of his friend. "Just admit it, D."

Opposite him from the rows of the airport benches, Deondre Anderson was dressed in similar finery but also wearing the lucky cap he had worn during the Shadow Tournament too. Plus his hair was a mess since it was so early in the morning, so he was killing two birds with one stone. "You don't know what you're talking about! Cyber-Stein is such a cheap and broken piece of junk with the 8000 life point rules. And in a 4000 life point duel you can't even initially use his effect, so that alone should speak of its quality!"

"You're both wrong!" CJ Anderson (no relation to Deondre) snapped his large hands out and locked them both in headlocks simultaneously. "Cyber-Stein ain't where it's at and Deondre's just wrong because I say he is! The real power in this group is going to be my ultimate beast-warrior deck!" He was wearing a nice black t-shirt and a cap too, the bill of it turned around so it wasn't protecting his eyes.

"Yeah right CJ, don't you know that the real power of this group is me?" Allon Saadya, his normally scruffy face clean-shaven for the time being to match his nice green t-shirt. "My deck is going to be the one to bring Team Topdeck to the finals of this tournament!"

This started another whole round of arguing among the four of them. And this made the security that had gathered near the boarding gate even more nervous.

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"_I'll be waiting for you when you get home, Daniel!"_ The cheerful voice of Rebecca Pilkington could be heard on the other end of the cell phone. _"I still don't get why you had to go to that Nationals in Reno though. I thought you'd have wanted to stay home with your lovey-dovey Jennie, huh?"_ The sound of false kissing noises could be heard on the other end of the phone until it was suddenly turned off.

Smiling sadly and shoving the cell phone into his pocket, Daniel Pilkington tugged on the black and silver coat of his duelist costume gently to get some wrinkles out of it. ("I'd be extremely happy to go spend my free time with Jennie, but Amy is greed incarnate. As such, now we come back to Las Vegas and almost immediately are getting pulled into some insane dueling tournament.")

For reasons he wasn't going to go into just a week after one of the biggest changes in his life he was being blackmailed into flying to somewhere remote like Reno just to duel a bunch of professional duelists, followed by which he would be coming back to some new "greatest dueling tournament the world has ever seen" type deal. So instead of spending his free time outside of school with the girl he was mated to, he got to go duel people. Constantly.

Shouldering his backpack and ignoring the strange looks some people were giving his full silver and black leather ensemble, the reddish-brown-haired half demon (currently disguised so that he appeared fully human) ran a nail along the flight terminal map on the wall in front of him slowly.

("Rikuo and I are separate entities now. It's a strange feeling not having that familiar jackass in my head now.") He wished he could say it was nice, but to be honest every time he thought of Rikuo he thought of all the things the two of them shared and had suffered through together as friends and as metaphorical brothers.

Letting out a deep sigh he turned and headed towards the boarding gate. ("I'm betting the guys are already there too.")

Someone came rushing by, crashing into him at full force.

"Huh, what was that all about?" Currently lying on his back, the boy watched the offender run off quizzically. What was really odd was that the person had aquamarine-colored hair, definitely not a natural color. ("Some punk poser must…") He blinked and looked down at his hand, unfolding his fingers to get a better look at what had apparently appeared in his grasp.

It was a glittering emerald-colored jewel attached to a silver chain. ("Wow, this looks really expensive.") Standing up and brushing himself off, Daniel dangled the glittering pendant in a way so it caught some sunlight from the windows not too far away. "This must have cost a bundle."

"Indeed it does, far more than you'd think." A cold voice breathed out from off to the side before the air around them grew icy, and the lights became dimmer. "I see that you must have been her accomplice in this then? Very well, prepare to defend yourself."

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Janeam glanced at his watch and then at the plane ticket in his hand. "Shouldn't we go look for Daniel? I mean he was just calling his sister to make sure everything was going to be alright at home, right?"

Deondre crossed his legs and yawned loudly. "Forget that man; it's too early to even try getting up."

"Agreed." Allon and CJ chorused, lounging against their benches with an audible creak.

"You all need to go jogging more often." Standing up and leaving his backpack to mark his seat, the lanky teen shoved his hands into his pockets and walked off in the direction he had remembered Daniel going.

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"And you are?" Daniel asked casually as the air around him warped to the tainted touch of a Darkness Game being instigated.

"My name is Lon'tao, and you will give that pendant to me or else you will die." The man, his Asian features and black pony-tail giving him the appearance of someone that had seen many horrible things in his life, lifted up one arm to indicate the Duel Disk already attached. "Otherwise you had best defend yourself."

"I'm still not sure what exactly is going on, but if you're looking for a duel that's fine!" Daniel's Duel Disk, having been removed almost instantly from his backpack, swung out as it clicked into dueling mode. "Duel!"

Lon'tao activated his Duel Disk as well. "This isn't a game. This is a Darkness Game, and if you lose then your life is forfeit."

Lon'tao- 8000

Daniel- 8000

"Challenger gets to decide who goes first." Daniel crossed his arms across his chest quietly, waiting to see what was going to come out. Though he was paying attention to this challenge, there was also a bit of irritation in his voice concerning the fact his opponent was trying to scare him with the threat of a Darkness Game.

This brought the dark-haired man to a pause before he straightened up and drew. "I'll go first, draw!" ("This boy is either insane or he understands the threat of a Darkness Game.") After looking at the cards in his hand he smirked slightly and slid two cards into his disk slots, holographic representations of them appearing face-down on the field. "I place two cards face-down and end my turn."

"It's my turn then, draw!" Daniel pulled a card from his hand and glanced behind him worriedly, wishing he was near something that would tell him whether his flight was on time or not. ("I can't play around here for too long. Therefore I'd better end this quick.") He brought his attention to the duel and held up a magic card. "I activate Pot of Greed." A grinning green jar appeared on his field. "This magic card lets me draw two cards."

"Already using your Pot of Greed?" Lon'tao smirked and shook his head sadly. "Are you already so desperate to pad your resources?"

"If just playing Pot got you chatty I can't imagine what this will do." Daniel held up another magic card and Pot of Greed appeared on his field again, a series of metallic arms running along it with various tools attached to them. "Research on the Pot of Greed allows me to draw two cards from my deck during the same turn that Pot of Greed has been activated." Two more cards were added to his hand.

"Even more cards?" Lantao sighed helplessly and shrugged. "Do you intend to use all of those cards all at once or something?"

The red-haired Duelist held up another magic card, and a disposable container of what looked to be ramen appeared on his field. "I activate Instant Fusion. At the cost of 1000 life points I special summon one level five or lower fusion monster from my fusion deck to the field! Come out now Cybersaurus!" The ramen container popped open and spat out a giant cybernetic dinosaur that landed on his field and roared ferociously.

Lon'tao- 8000

Daniel- 7000

"The monster summoned by Instant Fusion can't attack and is destroyed at the end of the turn." Lon'tao glanced at his set cards. ("Besides, even if you could attack my deck and its power will defeat your raw force easily.") He could not lose to some boy.

Daniel noticed that glance and grinned mischievously. "Sorry but those won't help you." He grabbed a card from his hand and snapped it up powerfully, a blast of dark energy erupting from around his Cybersaurus. "I sacrifice Cybersaurus to summon Jinzo!"

"What!?" Lon'tao's eyes widened as the useless fusion fodder was replaced by a chuckling green-armored cyborg. (2400/1500)

"The real trap master is here!" Daniel snapped a hand up and Jinzo mimicked the move, copying its master's wagging finger. "As long as this guy is face-up in play all trap cards might as well be blank, because they can't be activated and their effects are negated anyway! Direct attack, Cyber Energy Shock!" A pulsing vortex of darkness appeared in Jinzo's hands and it threw the attack across the field, slamming it into Lon'tao's chest and leaving him reeling.

Lon'tao- 5600

Daniel- 7000

"Plus I'll set two cards face-down and end my turn." A pair of cards shimmered into existence on Daniel's field behind the now-silent Jinzo.

Shaking off the vertigo he felt as the Darkness Game raked at his body and soul, the dark-haired man grabbed the top card of his deck angrily. "Don't get cocky. Jinzo's special ability might have helped you get one attack in one me but now that ends!" A card slid into his disk and Jinzo stumbled slightly, its body becoming partially translucent.

Daniel was surprised by that, having expected his monster to have been destroyed. "You equipped it with an equipment magic card to weaken it?"

"That's right, it was called Memory Wiper." Lon'tao motioned to the face-up card on his field that had a phantasmal chain going from itself to the cyborg. "The monster equipped with this card has its effect negated, and if it is removed from the game I draw one card." Another card was slammed into his disk alongside the equip card. "And now for my key card, the continuous magic card Degenerate Circuit!"

"Degenerate Circuit?" Daniel narrowed his eyes cautiously as another card appeared, but since his Jinzo didn't disappear he calmed down. "What does it do?"

"Reverse card open!" One of Lon'tao's set cards flipped up and Jinzo was replaced by a large metal cylinder. "Compulsory Evacuation Device sends one monster on the field back to its owner's hand!" When Daniel paled he sneered and the cylinder's top released a spray of smoke, launching Jinzo into the ceiling where it shattered.

"Jinzo!" Daniel looked down at his hand and after seeing that his monster's card wasn't there, snapped his head up and glared at the other Duelist. "Where did he go!?"

"Degenerate Circuit…" Lon'tao motioned to his key card. "…is where he went. As long as it is in play all monsters that go from the field to their owner's hand are instead removed from the game. As such my Memory Wiper goes to the graveyard and I draw one card."

He did so while holding a confident smirk on his face. After all, he had just defeated his opponent's apparent best monster with general ease. "How about that, boy? Bounce effects are much more plentiful in this game than draw effects. As such with this deck's power I will destroy everything you bring out!"

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From her hiding place around a nearby corner of the terminal the aquamarine-haired girl from before peeked out at the duel and pursed her lips worriedly. ("They weren't supposed to go after that guy. I just needed to hide the jewel on him for a little while.") This was bad. A normal duelist wasn't going to be able to defeat the men chasing her.

--------------------------

"Will you?" Daniel's glare had faded by the end of Degenerate Circuit's explanation. "Actually I've got news for you, buddy! Reverse card open! Dimensional Inversion!" One of his set cards flipped up and a pulsing pillar of light appeared on his field. "When a monster on my field is removed by an opponent's card effect, it returns to play! Revive yourself, Jinzo!" The pillar grew brighter and brighter before exploding with enough force to blind them both. When it cleared the chuckling form of Jinzo was in play again. (2400/1500)

Lon'tao growled loudly and slammed another card into his disk. "You think I can't stop you!? I activate the magic card Bounceback, which can only be activated when Degenerate Circuit is in play, returning one face-up monster on the field to its owner's hand!" Jinzo shuddered and dissolved into dust. "Now what will you do, Jinzo boy?"

"Jinzo boy, huh?" Daniel shrugged innocently. "I had Dimensional Inversion in my deck to counter someone else besides you, so it's not like I have multiple methods of stopping removal. I don't chain anything."

"Then I'll summon Abyss Soldier!" A humanoid blue whale appeared on Lon'tao's field. (1800/1500) "Direct attack!" The monster flew across the field and slashed Daniel across the chest with its trident.

Lon'tao- 5600

Daniel- 5200

"And with that…" Lon'tao nodded his head to Daniel, who was stumbling and gasping for air. "I'll end my turn. Good luck, boy. You'll need it."

"Thanks, but it isn't needed!" Daniel drew and slid a card into his disk, a magic card appearing on his field. "I activate the magic card Scrap Treasure. By discarding one level seven or higher machine monster from my hand to the graveyard I draw two cards. My discard is Barrel Dragon, a level seven." Sliding the monster card into his graveyard, he pulled two cards free from his deck and smirked at them. "There's nothing but a bunch of useless traps in my hand."

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The girl paled at that declaration. ("Why would he tell his opponent that?")

------------------

Lon'tao's eyes widened slightly as it dawned on him. "You would only tell me if you intend to discard them all."

"That's right!" Daniel held up a magic card with a picture of Jinzo's hand rising up out of the ground and crushing a bear-trap. "I activate the magic card Psychosis Revenge!" The card released a vibrating pulse that reached across his field and hand, the four in his grasp and single card on his field shattering. "All traps in my hand and on my field are destroyed."

Grabbing his deck out of its slot, Daniel fanned the cards out in front of him and quickly selected a card. "Come out now, Necro Jinzo!" A black and skull-adorned version of his monster appeared on his field and chuckled darkly, its blood-red eye lenses shimmering. (2500/2100)

"You restored your Jinzo?" Lon'tao clenched his free fist and glanced down at his set card. "Still, it won't beat me!"

"Necro Jinzo can only be summoned if Psychosis Revenge destroys at least three traps with its effect." Daniel, hands hanging at his side as he spoke clearly and slowly, lifted up a finger to point at the morbid version of his earlier monster. "Also Jinzo has to be in my graveyard or removed from play pile. That's not the only effect of Psychosis Revenge though."

Lon'tao clenched his teeth now. "Psychosis Revenge wouldn't make you discard so many cards for just that monster."

"You're right, but for now its effect has ended and I'm not holding any cards." Daniel snapped a hand up to point at Abyss Soldier. "Dead Energy Shock!" His monster charged up a pulsing ball of blackness that hurtled across the field, crashed into the whale humanoid, and blew it apart violently.

Lon'tao- 5000

Daniel- 5200

"The effect of Necro Jinzo activates when it destroys a monster as a result of battle. Trap Psychosis!" The machine monster made a strange purring noise, its body rattling.

"What is it…" Lon'tao's eyes widened in terror as the trap card in his hand exploded, as did the set trap card on his field. The same happened to Necro Jinzo though, leaving only Degenerate Circuit in play. "It destroys all traps in my hand and on my field…"

"That's right." Daniel slid the monster into his graveyard. "At the end phase of my turn the effect of Psychosis Revenge activates. Because it destroyed at least four trap cards I draw two cards." Pulling a pair of cards off his deck, he nodded to the man. "End turn."

"Then the turn is mine!" Lon'tao drew from his deck angrily. "The cost of Degenerate Circuit is 500 life points once per standby phase."

Lon'tao- 4500

Daniel- 5200

"And now I set one monster face-down on my field and end my turn." A monster appeared face-down on the man's field and he sneered at Daniel. "Come and get me, machine boy."

"Draw." Daniel added the card to his hand and slid a card into his disk. "I place one card face-down and end my turn."

"Draw. During my standby phase I pay 500 life points for Degenerate Circuit." Lon'tao placed another monster face-down on his disk. "I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn."

Lon'tao- 4000

Daniel- 5200

Daniel pulled a card from his deck and immediately threw it down, a green robot appearing on his field. "I summon Green Gadget in attack mode!" (1400/700) "When this monster is summoned I add one Red Gadget from my deck to my hand." He quickly pulled a card from his deck and added it to his hand before pointing at one of the set monsters. "Attack!"

Lon'tao smirked as the machine punched one of his set monsters and immediately disappeared along with it. "The reverse effect of Penguin Soldier sends up to two monsters on the field back to their owner's hands, so your Green Gadget gets to feel the effect of Degenerate Circuit."

"End turn." Daniel wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead before glancing at his set card once more. ("My last guard if all else fails.")

"Draw." Lon'tao was surrounded by a soft red glow as Degenerate Circuit took some of his life points for its cost. "I place one card face-down and end my turn."

Lon'tao- 3500

Daniel- 5200

"Then it's my turn." Daniel drew and glanced around at the Darkness Sphere that had formed around them. "So tell me something, just what exactly is so important about this gem? Care to tell me?"

"I won't be falling for your act, fool. Do you really think that I'm going to believe you have no idea just how important that item is?" Lon'tao frowned in displeasure, motioning across the darkness to Daniel's field. "You must think I'm truly stupid if you believe I'll fall for such a pathetic argument."

"I didn't think you were going to figure out the obvious fact I have no idea what this was about." The half demon grabbed a card from his hand and slapped it onto his disk, a red robot appearing on his field in a crouching position. "I summon Red Gadget in attack mode." (1300/1500) "When Red Gadget is summoned I can search my deck for a Yellow Gadget and add it to my hand." With his hand still well-stocked, he had no worries about this attack. "Red Gadget, attack the set monster!"

"Reverse card open!" Lon'tao braced himself as the robot punched his set card into little pixels. "I activate the trap card Return Crowning! One monster on your field is returned to your hand!" Red Gadget faded away. "This card lets me summon a new monster during my next turn. Also, I may declare one monster name other than the monster that was returned to your hand. If I name it correctly then you must discard two random cards from your hand! I will obviously declare Yellow Gadget!"

Daniel frowned as his Red Gadget shattered, along with one of his other hand cards. ("So he's setting me up for some kind of attack next turn?")

"Also," Lon'tao held up his disk to reveal that his graveyard slot was releasing a bright yellow glow. "The effect of my reverse Magical Slaver Trader lets me send cards from the top of my deck to my graveyard until I come to a monster. At that point the revealed monster enters my hand." A series of cards appeared in the air above him. (Major Riot, Degenerate Circuit, Bounceback, Ejection Seat, Return King) "There, the Return King is a monster and therefore it enters my hand." The other cards shattered. "Now, please continue."

"Unfortunately the trap I had planned to set was just taken down. End turn." Daniel glanced at the pocket he had stuffed the emerald into. ("What is so important about this thing?")

"And now it ends for you." Lon'tao drew. (LLP: 3000) "Return Crowning activates now! This card allows me to normal summon one Return named monster from my hand without sacrifice during my next turn! Return King, emerge now!" A giant green machine with huge fans coming out of its back appeared on his field. (2700/2600)

"It seems I'm not the only one that has a love of machines, huh?" When the attempt at small talk failed Daniel realized that he was about to get attacked. ("Come on then, I've got the power of my Mirror Force trap card in play.")

"From my hand," Lon'tao held up a magic card and a blast of wind crashed across Daniel's field, his set cards hurled high into the sky before disappearing. "I activate the magic card Fan Hurricane. If there is an air attribute machine on my field then I can select up to two cards on your field and send them back to your hand." His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Disappear from my sight, your weak defenses."

"That's fine," Daniel held up one of his two traps. "In chain I activate the trap card Gadget Protector. When this card is activated I can select a Gadget from my removed from play pile and summon it to my field in defense mode. Return now, Red Gadget!" (1300/1500) The red robot flashed into play on his field, its metal arms in front of it defensively.

"It is useless to resist." Lon'tao slid a card into his disk. "I set one card face-down and attack with Return King! Wind Wiper!" His monster's fans started spinning rapidly, creating a tornado that rolled across the field and blew the Red Gadget high into the sky. "The effect of Return King activates now! By sending one card on my field back to my deck I can return one monster on your field to your hand when I attack! Take this! Return King, Bounce Tornado!"

Daniel gasped as his Red Gadget came apart in the tornado like it was made of mist. "Degenerate Circuit again!?"

"That's right, once again your defenses are coming apart easily!" Lon'tao snapped his hand up to point at the half demon. "Wind Wiper!" Then he sneered while Daniel screamed in pain. "Such a delightful cry you have, like someone that has never experienced true pain before…"

Lon'tao- 3000

Daniel- 2500

"End turn." Lon'tao paced back and forth slowly, his hands behind his back. "I'm willing to let you live if you give up the pendant without a fight. It's up to you though whether you accept such a deal or not, since as I'm sure you know I cannot just take it from you. So, what do you say, weakling?"

"I say…" Daniel, his sunglasses having been blown away and his messy red hair no longer hiding the red-furred wolf ears on his head, slowly smiled enough to show off a fang. "That if you think knocking me down by just that much damage is enough to end this duel then you aren't really a duelist. You're just a trained thug that is playing around, and against a duelist that truly duels with their all you cannot win!"

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The girl's eyes widened slightly as it sunk in just how much she had lucked out. ("This guy is a professional duelist? That means there's still a chance he can win…") Clasping her hands together, she extended her prayers that no matter what happened he would defeat Lon'tao.

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"It's my turn, draw!" Daniel glanced at the drawn card before grasping a different one from his hand and throwing it down, a yellow robot appearing on his field in a crouching position. "I summon Yellow Gadget to the field in defense mode. Also I place one card face-down and end my turn." (1200/1200)

The card that appeared behind his machine was obviously his real defense, as he wasn't going to allow himself to be caught off-guard by Return King's effect again. "As long as you have to send a card from your field to your deck to activate the effect of your monster, you'll have to give up whatever you draw instead of using it unless you don't mind pounding on my defenses for awhile."

"That would be true…" Lon'tao suddenly sneered and drew, holding up the card to show that it was a trap and it had been face-up on top of his deck. "Except this card says otherwise. The trap card Return Insurance says that when this card is sent from my field to my deck it becomes the face-up top card of my deck. If this face-up card is drawn from my deck I discard it and draw two cards."

Already having done so, he snickered at the growl that emitted from his opponent. "What's the matter, afraid?"

"Afraid?" Daniel shook his head and motioned to his face-down card, revealing a trap. "Just finding this a little frustrating. Reveal Cyber Shadow Gardna!" A black cloud of smoke appeared on his field. (?) "This card becomes a monster on my field, and if attacked its attack and defense equals the attack and defense of the monster that attacks it."

"So it does." Lon'tao shuddered slightly as his life points dropped by Degenerate Circuit's effect. "However I wonder for how long you can last. I activate the magic card Bounceback, which if you remember allows me to return a face-up monster in play to its owner's hand! My choice should be obvious!" The cloud of smoke on Daniel's field dissolved.

Lon'tao- 2500

Daniel- 2500

"And then I set one card face-down and attack with Return King! Effect Activate!" The face-down card that appeared on his field immediately disappeared and a tornado was formed by the machine's spinning fans, tearing across the field and swallowing up the Yellow Gadget as it removed it. "Wind Wiper!" The tornado kept going, pushing over Daniel's body brutally. "With that this duel ends!"

"Unfortunately," The attack of the Return King suddenly stopped with the wind blowing away as a magic card appeared in the center of it. "I'm not so easily beaten. The effect of the magic card Guardian Angel allows me to either discard it from my hand to negate one instance of effect damage or discard a card from my hand along with it to negate one instance of battle damage. My choice is obviously the second."

As the magic card disappeared he placed his hand on top of his deck. "The card I discarded was Repayment of Losses, which when sent to my graveyard lets me draw a card." Adding one card to his hand, he gave a toothy smile. "Fool me once, shame on you…fool me twice, shame on me."

Despite his displeasure at having his attack stopped, Lon'tao held up the card he had returned to show it was another Return Insurance. Placing it on top of his deck he nodded to his opponent. "I end my turn."

Daniel looked down at his deck. ("This guy's got me backed into a corner, and the cards in my hand can't do anything special besides get blown away.") He drew and smiled at what it was. "I activate Dimensional Hangar, removing three union monsters from my deck. When a monster they can union with comes into play they are summoned!" A swirling portal appeared in the sky above him.

A blue and yellow robot appeared on his field, its cannons sliding into position to aim at the Return King. "Come out now, X-Head Cannon!" (1800/1500)

The Dimensional Hangar belched out three machines; a red machine dragon, a yellow ground tank, and a framework jet. "The effect of Dimensional Hangar brings out Y-Dragon Head, Z-Metal Tank, and Heavy Mech Support Platform in attack mode!" (1500/1600) (1500/1300) (500/500)

"Combination Fusion!" X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, and Z-Metal Tank all launched straight into the sky. A few moments later a heavy hovertank made up of all three of the monsters lowered onto his field. "XYZ Dragon Cannon!" (2800/2600)

Daniel motioned to his Heavy Mech Support Platform, which lowered down and connected to the upper body of the Dragon Cannon. "Support Platform can union to any machine monster, increasing its attack and defense by 500 points!" (3300/3100) "XYZ attacks with Hyper Destruction!" All of the cannons across XYZ's body opened fire, blasting the Return King into pieces. "End turn."

Lon'tao- 1900

Daniel- 2500

"An impressive retaliation, but in the end futile." Lon'tao drew and held up Return Insurance, sliding the card into his graveyard before removing the top two cards of his deck. "At this time the cost of Degenerate Circuit is paid."

Lon'tao- 1400

Daniel- 2500

Then he brought his attention onto the XYZ Dragon Cannon. ("With Heavy Mech Support Platform his Dragon Cannon is now a powerful monster with a shield that protects it from destruction.") Flipping one of his two hand cards up, he smiled savagely. "Your power is useless against me! Come out now, Abyss Soldier!" A new whale humanoid appeared on his field. (1800/1500)

Daniel's eyes widened in terror. "Oh no…"

"That's right." Lon'tao held up his other card to reveal another Penguin Soldier. "By discarding a water attribute monster from my hand I can send one card in play back to its owner's hand! Therefore that XYZ Dragon Cannon disappears!" The fusion machine shattered violently. "Abyss Soldier, direct attack!"

Daniel felt the water monster's spear stab into him, the pain dulled by the throbbing in his body as he was sent skidding backwards with enough speed to create skid-marks in the ground his feet was touching. ("This is bad. Another turn like this one and I'm done.")

Lon'tao- 1400

Daniel- 700

"This is the end." Lon'tao crossed his arms across his chest and sneered at the stumbling half demon. "I see that the supposed dueling skills and endurance of the demon race were greatly exaggerated. If this is your best then you should just surrender. I cannot be defeated by the likes of you."

"This is the end." Daniel mimicked Lon'tao's tone of voice before he cracked his neck loudly and rolled one shoulder to get the kinks out of it. "That's the only thing you've said that was worth commenting on. It's my turn, draw!" He snapped the top card off of his deck and flipped it up. "I activate the magic card Erosion Vein. One face-up magic or trap card in play is destroyed, followed by which I draw two cards. My choice should be obvious." Dimension Hangar shattered and he drew two cards.

Those two cards were good, but Daniel knew that his deck had better for him. "From my hand I activate the magic card Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and then discarding two." Flipping the four cards in his hand over, he selected two and held them up for his opponent to see. "I discard Blowback Dragon and Roll Out!"

Lon'tao smirked and wiped a thumb across his nose. "So what do you have that can beat me?"

"This." A magic card appeared on Daniel's field. "I activate Overload Fusion, removing fusion material monsters from my graveyard to special summon a dark attribute machine type fusion monster! I remove Barrel Dragon and Blowback Dragon to summon Gatling Dragon!" A giant wheeled triple gun-barreled machine dragon appeared on his field. (2600/1400)

"Ho, a powerful fusion monster has come out…but the real question is how long it will stay." Lon'tao tapped the top of his deck with a finger. "With this deck I can remove it from the game in one shot."

"True, but I won't give you that chance." Daniel motioned to his monster and the three gun barrels on its body started to spin. "The effect of Gatling Dragon activates now! By flipping three coins I will destroy one monster in play per heads these coins land on!" A trio of golden coins appeared in the air above him, revealing two heads and a tails. "Damn…"

"Such a shame." Lon'tao lamented while both the Abyss Soldier and Gatling Dragon exploded. "Is that all? Then it's my turn!" (LLP: 900) He drew and held up Pot of Greed. "Tell me, did you really expect to be that lucky?"

Daniel was stone-faced now, not showing the slightest of any emotions.

"And now to lock you down for the rest of this duel." Lon'tao motioned to a card that appeared on his field. "I activate Rubber Room." The ground around them both became bright red and bouncy. "While this continuous magic card remains in play I declare one monster type. When a monster of that type is summoned it is returned to its owner's hand and for every level star of that monster I discard one card from my deck. I will obviously be declaring the type of card you run so well, machine. Also I set one card face-down and end my turn." A card shimmered into place next to his Degenerate Circuit card.

Daniel's stone mask of a face suddenly cracked, revealing that he was smiling. "Thanks for doing what I thought you would do. From my hand, during your end phase, I discard the magic card Secret Identity!" The card that appeared on his field had a picture of a man in a phone booth tearing open his business suit to reveal a bright yellow H. "During the turn after a monster on my field is destroyed I may discard this card at any time to special summon an Elemental Hero monster from my deck that has a level equal to or less than that of the monster that was destroyed!"

A pillar of light appeared on his field, forming into a golden hero with a sharp-edged body. "Elemental Hero Edgeman comes out to help finish this!" (2600/1800)

"Elemental…Hero?" Lon'tao stared at the monster, obviously confused. "What kind of card is that?"

Chest swelling with pride, Daniel grabbed the top card of his deck. "They're the Elemental Heroes, monsters born from the recesses of my soul along with my machines! It's my turn, draw!" Drawing, he pointed at Lon'tao. "Edgeman, direct attack!" The hero bellowed out a battle cry and roared across the field with its edged forearms ready to cut.

"Reverse card open, Truce of Opposing Forces!" Lon'tao's face-down card flipped up and Edgeman disappeared. "When a monster on your field attacks I may choose to activate this card and send all monsters in play back to their owner's hands! Therefore…"

"Degenerate Circuit removes Edgeman from play…" Daniel glanced at the card he had drawn. It was good, but…

"Five cards left." Lon'tao licked his lips at this. "There are only five cards in your deck, and without a method to return cards to your deck you will lose. So, what will you do now that your so-called heroes have been defeated? After all, what does being a hero get you except a painful death?"

"A painful death…" Daniel's fist clenched tightly and he narrowed his eyes. "What would you know about heroes?"

"Nothing beyond the fact they are the easiest prey to crush in my line of work." Flicking his ponytail over his shoulder, he tapped the side of his cheek with a finger. "Tell me, boy, just what exactly can you expect to accomplish by opposing us? Don't you know that your enemy is someone you cannot defeat?"

"End turn." Daniel had nothing more to say to this guy. "I suggest you finish me now. If you drag this out past the next turn your precious Degenerate Circuit is going to break itself."

"Draw!" (LLP: 400) Lon'tao snapped up a monster card. "I summon Return Knight!" (1900/1400) A green robotic knight appeared on his field and hefted its sword to strike. "When this monster battles with a monster, if that monster is stronger, then damage calculation ends and the opposing monster is returned to its owner's hand. After that, Return Knight is destroyed."

----------------

"Did he lose…" The girl's nails dug a little deeper against her hiding place. "Please…don't lose…"

--------------------

"Return Knight," Lon'tao lifted his hand up and pointed at Daniel. "End this fool's life! Direct attack!" The machine hurtled forwards and slashed through Daniel's body before returning to its master's side of the field. "With that, the duel is over."

"I beg to differ." Daniel held up the card in his hand. "I discard the monster card Kuriboh. When this card is discarded from my hand I can negate one instance of battle damage to my life points." Sliding the card into his graveyard slot, he drew. "And now I play Turnabout Treasure! This card can only be activated if I have no other cards in my hand and no cards on my field. For every card on your field I draw one card! You've got three cards, so I draw three times!"

"So what?" Lon'tao motioned to his knight. "Or have you not realized that if you beat this monster with a stronger monster then it will just be returned and you'll lose anyway!"

"I activate the magic card Essence Gathering." Daniel slid the card into his graveyard and held up his removed from play Jinzo. "One removed from play monster can be added to my hand at the cost of half my current life points."

Lon'tao- 400

Daniel- 350

"I play the magic card Draw Dummy!" Daniel drew the remaining card of his deck. "I draw one card and replace it with Draw Dummy, which appears face-up on my deck and forces me to skip a draw phase to discard it to the graveyard."

"So what? Now you won't deck out?" Lon'tao laughed derisively. "You've still lost this duel!"

"Says you, the guy that's about to lose." Another magic card appeared on Daniel's field, revealing a picture of a man wearing a turban and standing before an audience with a deck of playing cards in his hand. "Stage Trick lets me declare the name of one card. I then look at the top card of my deck, and if I'm correct then I discard that card to the graveyard and special summon one monster from my hand to the field! Draw Dummy!" Flipping the top card of his deck up to reveal that is what it was, he discarded it and grasped one of the two remaining cards in his hand. "It's time to finish this Jinzo!" The green cyborg appeared in play, chuckling coldly. (2400/1500)

"You fool; you must have forgotten the effect of Rubber Room! Disappear, Jinzo!" Lon'tao sneered as the machine monster started to sink into the ground, preparing to be launched out of existence.

"Quickplay magic card activate!" Daniel held up the remaining card in his hand and Jinzo only bounced a foot into the air, landing on its feet and continuing to chuckle coldly. "Lightning Evolution activates by letting me sacrifice a monster on my field to special summon an advanced version of that monster from my deck or fusion deck! Jinzo is my sacrifice!"

The cyborg exploded, and then reformed into a lithe and shiny version of itself, its green frame changed to silver. "Quicksilver Jinzo is summoned!" (2000/1700)

"The result will still be the same! Rubber Room!" Lon'tao motioned to his continuous card, but nothing happened. "What!?"

"Quicksilver Jinzo's special ability is that he is unaffected by the effects of magic cards." The monster's face-mask started to glow with silver light.

"The effect of Return Knight sends your precious fusion back to your hand, or in this case out of the game!" Lon'tao's Knight responded to this command by launching forwards to collide with Daniel's monster. "It's game over!"

"Quicksilver Jinzo," Daniel's monster responded to this attack by casually sidestepping the knight. "Can cut its attack in half to directly attack the opponent's life points."

Lon'tao's breath caught in his throat as he realized that Quicksilver Jinzo was standing in front of him. "Now wait just a second…I…"

"Quick Strike!" Daniel leaned to the side to avoid the charge of the Return Knight while his monster punched Lon'tao directly in the crook of his neck, dropping him to his knees.

Lon'tao's only possible response in his condition was to gasp for air, while the darkness around them engulfed the black-suited man in one gulp.

Lon'tao- 0

Daniel- 350

-----------------------

The darkness sphere faded away to reveal Janeam, Deondre, Allon and CJ all standing at the edge of it.

Daniel waved to them and put his duel disk away. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late. Next time don't leave me behind just because I slept in though."

"What was that all about?" Deondre checked around them to see that no one had noticed the pulsing ball of darkness. "And why is it that no one seemed to notice it?"

"I have no clue." Yawning loudly, Daniel slung his backpack over his shoulder and stumbled off towards the flight gate. "I just want to go home and curl up in my bed right now, so how about we worry about it another time."

The rest of Team Topdeck shrugged their shoulders at this and followed behind him. Daniel was normally the first one to overreact to stuff like this, so if he didn't panic then there was no reason they should.

Meanwhile, the aquamarine-haired girl followed them as quietly as she could. ("I think it would be a good idea to leave the gem in his possession for now. Yeah…definitely a good idea.")

_To be continued…_


	2. Heavy Hitters

Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh. I only own the characters shown in this fic.

"_Attention, flight 2089 to Las Vegas is currently being delayed by the weather. The wait has been increased to approximately one hour. We're sorry for the inconvenience."_ The speakers above their heads announced, completely nonchalant.

"This isn't weather." Deondre pointed out the window at the veil of white that covered the windows. "This is an emergency condition."

"Agreed," The rest of Team Topdeck concurred.

Demon Duelist Legacy; Elemental Champions Arc

Chapter 2: Heavy Hitters

"So what should we do to pass the time?" Allon shuffled his deck a couple of times and looked over at CJ. "How about it? I bet I can outbeat the Earth Beatdown."

Deondre, Janeam, and Daniel all covered their hands over their ears.

"What'd you say!?" CJ launched to his feet, Duel Disk in his hands already. "Wasn't it less than a week ago that you were gettin' taken down by me every single day!? And all of a sudden you think you can take down the master of beatdown!? You're on!"

"Why can't you guys just keep quiet while we wait?" Deondre glanced around at all of the people that were staring at the two big men that were about to start dueling. Then off to his side he noticed that Daniel was cursing silently and handing a five dollar bill to Janeam. "And what are you two doing?"

"We made a bet to see who would get CJ riled up first." The half demon sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Man Deondre, when did you get so even-tempered anyway?"

His friend responded by bashing him over the head with his carry-on luggage.

--------------------------

"So Lon'tao was defeated?" A wheelchair, its frame shined to an almost silvery sheen, slid along the black marble ground silently. Its occupant laced their aged hands together and made a quiet noise of frustration. "So that girl found someone strong enough to oppose our lower soldiers?"

"It seems so," From next to him the air pulsed slightly and a suited form seemed to emerge from out of thin air. "I cannot say for sure how powerful the enemy is, as the Darkness Game prevented me from entering to see their strength. All I'm sure of is that there are five of them."

The aged man chuckled morbidly. "How interesting…there are five of them and five of you. Do you think that is a coincidence, Umbra?"

"I do not believe in coincidence," The suited man's long grey hair started to dissolve into thin air. "I shall go inform the others that Raea's protectors are enough in number that we can have some fun with them before we get the Emerald of Wind…" Like his hair, the rest of him dissolved into nothing.

"Then all our dreams will come true," The old man glanced behind him at the silent butler that was pushing his wheelchair along. "To the dining room, it's time to eat."

------------------------------------

"It's time to remind you who I really am!" CJ slammed a fist against his chest forcefully, a loud thud accompanying it to show that he was solid. "I'm CJ Anderson, the greatest duelist on this team! Nobody on this team is my equal!" Off to his side Janeam, Deondre, and Daniel all scoffed loudly. "Shaddup, I'm serious! When was the last time any of you three took me on anyway!?"

"Excuse me, sir," One of the security guards walked up to him and held out a hand soothingly. "We need to ask you to please calm down? You're causing a disturbance."

"Son, I am a disturbance!" CJ adjusted his cap and pointed at Allon. "If you want to blame anybody then blame this uppity little kid for challenging the master!"

"Duel!" They both shouted at once, Duel Disks activating in unison.

CJ- 8000

Allon- 8000

"Should we even try to stop them?" Daniel asked lazily, kicking his feet up into the seat next to his. "Or should we just sit back and enjoy the show before security shows up in full and throws us out of the terminal?"

"Do you really think we can stop CJ when he's on the rampage?" Deondre yawned and sat down, deciding he may as well be comfortable for as long as he could before they were thrown out into the icy cold.

"I'm first, draw!" CJ grabbed the top card of his deck and snapped it up, revealing a picture of a fire-breathing gorilla. "I summon Berserk Gorilla in attack mode!" The creature on the card appeared in play with a roar, pounding its fists across its chest and letting out a jet of flame that hit the ceiling. (2000/1000) "I place one card face-down and end my turn."

("One of CJ's powerful high attack beast monsters…") Allon smiled calmly and drew. "I know all about your deck, CJ. You never really change your strategy, constantly running those beasts of yours because they have the most consistent raw attack power in combination with amazing abilities. Truly, you're the member of Team Topdeck that we turn to when we need muscle."

"Are you just tryin' to butter me up, because it's not going to work Allon!" CJ's monster snorted and pounded its chest with its fists, mirroring the current attitude of its master. "You went and disturbed a sleeping beast, and now you're going to get mauled!"

"We'll see…" A mob of green-skinned humanoids wielding clubs and other spiked implements appeared on Allon's field. "I summon Goblin Attack Force in attack mode." (2300/0) "Attack Berserk Gorilla now! Goblin Rush!" The horde of monsters rushed across the field and surrounded the ape, bashing it into the ground with their assorted weapons before it exploded.

CJ- 7700

Allon- 8000

"Reverse card open!" CJ's set card flipped up and his Duel Disk made a click noise as it released his deck from its slot. "Call of the Jungle can only activate when a beast type monster on my field is destroyed as a result of battle! I add one Wild Warrior named monster from my deck to my hand." Taking a card out of his deck and adding it to his hand, he smirked confidently at Allon. "Now what, kid?"

"Kid?" Allon frowned and motioned to his Goblin Attack Force, which collapsed to the ground in front of him looking completely out of breath. "After battle completes my Goblin Attack Force switches to defense mode. I place two cards face-down and end my turn." A pair of cards appeared face-down on his field behind his monsters.

"Draw!" CJ slapped a card onto his disk and a dark-skinned strong-chinned man wearing a light brown loincloth with a stone sword strapped to his back appeared on his field with a cry. "I summon Wild Warrior Wildheart in attack mode!" (1500/1600)

"Hey, wait a second…" Janeam turned to Daniel questioningly. "That looks like one of your cards."

"Yeah, Elemental Hero Wild Man." Daniel held up the card, which had a picture similar to Wildheart. "According to the story behind the Wild Warriors these are the guys Wild Man used to hang out with before he joined the Elemental Heroes."

"Fascinating," Deondre mumbled out, "How about you guys keep quiet? I want to see these two go at, especially if there's the chance that no matter who wins I'll be able to make fun of the loser."

"Wildheart, attack Goblin Attack Force!" CJ's monster pulled his stone sword free and launched at the green-skinned mob with a roar.

"Reverse card open, Counterattack Preparation!" One of Allon's set cards flipped to reveal his Goblin Attack Force scrambling for their weapons as a warrior went tearing through their camp. "This continuous trap cards activates when you attack a defense mode monster on my field. I flip a coin. If it lands on heads my monster switches to attack mode. If it lands on tails then during the damage step your monster deals damage through the defense of the opposing monster! Go!" A wooden coin shot up into the air and came crashing down behind his Goblins, revealing tails.

"Heh, sucks for you! Wildheart, Wild Slash!" CJ's monster tore through the exhausted Goblins and completely obliterated them. "Now take that sweet, sweet life point damage."

"Somebody forgot something important, apparently," Daniel called out to CJ. "Wildheart is Wild Man, and what's the effect of those two?"

After a moment of dead silence the mighty earth duelist palmed his face in aggravation. "He's immune to the effects of trap cards, which means he doesn't get the damage effect."

"It looks like you aren't as skilled as you thought, apparently," Allon smirked and tapped the side of his head. "Thanks to your mindless rampaging you lost the chance to severely damage my life points."

CJ grumbled something and slid a card into his disk slot. "I set one card face-down and end my turn." A card shimmered face-down onto his field behind Wildheart, which floated back onto his field.

"Draw!" Allon held up the drawn card and a group of armored Goblins appeared on his field. "I summon Goblin Elite Force in attack mode!" (2200/1500) "Attack now! Goblin Formation Strike!" The armored units moved forward in perfect unison, slowly approaching Wildheart with their pikes out.

"Reverse card open!" CJ's set card flipped up and his monster released a powerful roar of rage that tore across the field and sent the group of Goblins back to Allon's side. "Threatening Roar prevents you from declaring attacks this turn."

"End turn." Allon noticed that they were attracting a pretty big crowd, and that even though there were lots of security around none of them were making any moves to stop this. ("Apparently they think is just entertainment.")

"Draw!" CJ snapped the drawn card up and Wildheart's stone sword changed into a blade-ridged metal sword. "I equip my monster with Riryoku Blade. When this equipped monster attacks this card cuts the attack of the attacked monster in half and adds it to my monster's attack points! Battle!" Wildheart launched forwards and an aura of spiritual energy went from his opponent's monster to his. (2600/1600) (1100/1500)

Allon braced himself while his monsters were slashed apart, the backlash sending him skidding back a little. "Reverse card open!" The remaining set card on his field flipped up to reveal a group of Goblins running from the towering form of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. "Goblin Cowardice activates when an attack mode monster with Goblin in its title is destroyed as a result of battle. I remove one Goblin named monster from my deck, shuffle, and then draw one card."

CJ- 7700

Allon- 6500

Quickly doing so, Allon grabbed the top card of his deck and drew. "It's time to push back before you start thinking you can slap my Goblins around this easily all the time. During my standby phase the card I removed, Goblin Balloon Team returns from my removed from play pile to the field!" From high above a giant leather balloon lowered into play, its riders a group of goggled hooting goblins. (900/0) "I activate the magic card Goblin Grenade! One Goblin on my field is destroyed, followed by which a monster on your field is destroyed!" The balloon high above them exploded, dropping out of the sky as a flaming wreck which crashed on top of Wildheart and destroyed him.

"And now that one of my monsters went from the field to the graveyard I have a reason to play this," A magic card appeared on Allon's field and he pulled his deck free of its slot, fanning it out in front of him. "Last Will activates when a monster is sent from my field to my graveyard. I special summon a monster from my deck with 1500 or less attack points." A new goblin, this one wearing a leather belt layered with random tools appeared on his field. "Goblin Tinkerer is special summoned!" (300/0)

"Another low power goblin, huh?" CJ laughed at the summoned monster. "What's it going to do, annoy me?"

"A little more than that." Allon motioned to his monster, which had a pair of tools out and was apparently working on something. "The effect of Goblin Tinkerer is that when it is summoned I may remove one card from my graveyard to draw one card." Holding up his Goblin Balloon Team, he flipped the card into his back pocket and drew a card from his deck. "And now I sacrifice Goblin Tinkerer to summon Goblin Commander!"

A pillar of light erupted on his field as his weak monster was replaced by a goblin wearing leather armor and riding atop a giant wild boar. (2400/1000) "Goblin Commander, direct attack! Goblin Charge!" His monster rushed across the field and trampled over CJ, burying the opposing duelist in a cloud of dust.

CJ- 5300

Allon- 6500

"Finally I set one card face-down." A card appeared face-down on Allon's field next to his Counterattack Preparation. "End turn."

Standing up and coughing to clear the dust out of his mouth, CJ drew from his deck with a scowl on his face. "Now you went and did it! I ain't holdin' back now!" He added the drawn card to his hand and grasped a different card, placing it face-down on his disk. "I set one monster face-down and end my turn."

"You aren't holding back, so you'll just set one monster face-down?" Allon drew and his Goblin Balloon Team appeared in play once more. (900/0) "I summon Goblin Bomber!" A new goblin, this one holding a bomb under its arms, appeared in play next to the Goblin Commander. (0/0) "Also, the effect of the Goblin Commanders powers up the attack of all Goblin named monsters on my field besides itself by 300 points!" (1200/0) (300/0) "Bomber, attack the set monster!"

"The effect of my set Nimble Momonga…" CJ's eyed widened as the Goblin tackled his set card and both of them exploded together. "What in the…"

"When Goblin Bomber attacks an opponent's monster he destroys it and himself without damage calculation." Allon pointed at the now defenseless CJ. "Commander and Balloon Team, direct attack!" The Commander rushed across the field and trampled CJ once more, followed by which the subsequent dust clouds turned into clouds of fire as the Balloon Team dropped a rain of bombs down into them.

CJ- 1700

Allon- 6500

"And now I open my set card!" Allon's face-down card flipped to reveal a picture of the Goblin Commander throwing the Goblin Tinkerer into the sky. "Goblin Fastball lets me sacrifice the lowest attack Goblin on my field to deal you its original attack in damage!" The Balloon above them both exploded and fell down on top of CJ, burning him before the wreck faded away.

CJ- 800

Allon- 6500

"Wow," Janeam and Deondre both whistled at once. "You just got pounded." Daniel silently nodded in agreement.

"Shaddup, I've got this covered!" CJ yanked the top card off of his deck and snapped it up to reveal a picture of Wildheart and a group of gorillas pounding their chests together. "Spirit of the Wild activates! From my graveyard one Wild Warrior is returned to my deck and a different Wild Warrior is special summoned to my field!" The newly summoned monster was a brown-skinned man with a leather whip in one hand, which he started cracking against the ground. "Wild Warrior Beast Tamer special summons one Trained Lion Token to my field!" (1400/1300) A lion appeared in play next to his monster. (1000/1000)

"And now I sacrifice these two monsters to summon this, my key card!" The token and its master dissolved into dust, replaced by a giant lion that roared loudly enough to shake the entire terminal. "Lord of the Pride is summoned!" (2000/500) "When this monster is summoned I may remove any number of monsters from my graveyard! I remove three!" His monster roared once more and a trio of smaller female lions appeared on his field. "For every removed monster a Pride Token is summoned!" (1000/1000)x3

"Here it comes, CJ's big rush…" Deondre sighed sadly. "It was nice knowing Allon, but it looks like he woke up the literal 800-pound gorilla on this one."

"I activate the equipment magic card United We Stand on my Lord of the Pride!" CJ's master lion started to glow brightly. "For every face-up monster on my field the equipped monster gains 800 attack and defense points!" (5200/3700) "Lord of the Pride, attack Goblin Commander now! Full-Force Lion Rush!"

Allon's monster squealed in panic as it was snapped up into the air by a tackle from the three lionesses, followed up by one echoing snap of jaws as the Lord of the Pride ate him whole. Before Allon could respond he was tackled by the three Pride Tokens.

CJ- 800

Allon- 700

"I set one card face-down on my field and end my turn." CJ's lions stalked to his side and heeled in front of him. "This is the smackdown of the greatest earth duelist in the world. When you duel me the real threat isn't just the power of my beasts, but my strength too."

"It's my turn," Allon drew the top card of his deck and held it up. "The magic card Erosion Vein destroys a face-up magic or trap card on my field to draw two cards." His Counterattack Preparation blew apart. "Before I draw, let me say one thing to you, mister Greatest Earth Duelist. I guess I could be considered an earth duelist too, therefore I'm about to remove that greatest part of your title! Draw!" He pulled two cards off of his deck.

The audience they had was incredible now, people pushing against each other for room to watch these duels.

"I activate Graceful Charity," Drawing three cards from his deck, Allon slid two hand cards into his graveyard, one of which caused his graveyard slot to start glowing. "I discarded Goblin Accountant and Repayment of Losses. The former, when discarded, lets me draw one card!" Pulling two cards from his deck, he added them to his hand.

Another magic card appeared on his field. "I activate the magic card Desperate Loan, which can only be activated during my first main phase." Drawing four cards from his deck, he held up a magic card. "I activate the magic card Loser Summon. One monster can be summoned from my hand, but it arrives with its effect negated and its attack and defense at zero. Goblin Nerd is special summoned!" A Goblin wearing a pair of coke-bottle thickness glasses appeared in play, tripping over its own feet and crashing to the ground. (0/0)

"What's that thing supposed to do?" CJ blinked at the summoned monster for a few seconds before it disappeared in a pillar of light. "Oh, a sacrifice?"

"That's right; I sacrifice Goblin Nerd to summon Goblin Warlord in attack mode!" An armored Goblin atop an armored wild boar appeared on his field. (2800/0) "I enter my battle phase, and the effect of Desperate Loan activates now! Until my next main phase 1 for every phase of my turn I go through I have to send one card from my hand to the top of my deck or take 1000 points of damage." Sliding a card onto the top of his deck, he pointed at one of the tokens. "Goblin Warlord, attack a Pride Token now!"

"Sorry Allon, but it looks like you're out of luck!" CJ's set card flipped up to reveal another Threatening Roar, his Lord of the Pride releasing an angry cry that froze the Goblin Warlord in its tracks. "You won't be able to fight back, not that easily."

Allon frowned and slid a card on top of his deck. "Main Phase 2." A face-down card appeared on his field, followed by which he returned another card onto his deck. "End phase and end turn."

"Draw!" CJ held the card up to reveal Mystical Space Typhoon. "It's the end of the game, Allon."

"Not quite!" A card slid out of the red-haired duelist's graveyard. "I remove Goblin Nerd from my graveyard to activate its effect. I now guess the top card of my deck, and if I'm correct then your magic card is negated, my deck is shuffled, and then I draw two cards. I declare the trap card Final Attack Orders." Pulling the top card of his deck free, he revealed that he was correct. "Sorry CJ." Shuffling it back into his deck, he drew two cards. "Care to continue?"

"Lord of the Pride, attack Goblin Warlord now!" CJ's lion roared and charged, making it about halfway there before its snout pressed against an invisible barrier, scrunching its face up horribly.

"Negate Attack says that your battle phase ends now, so you won't be finishing me off that easily." Allon slid the activated trap into his graveyard and smiled confidently. "Anything else?"

"Don't get too cocky," CJ slid a card into his disk. "I set one card face-down and end my turn."

"What?" Janeam pointed at the Pride Tokens. "He left himself wide open…"

"It's probably another Threatening Roar," Daniel commented casually right before someone from the audience around them bumped into him and nearly knocked him off his seat. "Watch it lady!"

"It's my turn, draw!" Allon drew and then slid a different on top of his deck. "Standby phase." He returned another card to his deck. "Goblin Warlord, attack one of the Pride Tokens!" Sure enough the Lord of the Pride roared and his monster froze in its tracks. "The last Threatening Roar?"

"That's right, son," Sliding the trap into his graveyard, CJ pounded his chest once with a hand. "I already said that I'm the greatest earth duelist, and I intend to keep that title with this power of mine! You won't beat my monsters!"

"I don't have to beat your monsters," Allon held up magic card, revealing an odd card that CJ had never seen before. "Another of my Desperate cards, this one is called Desperate Manager. From my deck I draw two cards, and then return three to the top of my deck." He did so, a big grin on his face even though he was reducing his hand to a single card. "This is the last shot, my last chance. I activate the magic card Sniping Time!" A card with a picture of the monster known as Snipe Hunter shooting at cans and missing horribly appeared on his field. "Without shuffling my deck afterwards I remove one Snipe Hunter in my deck from the game."

After doing so he placed a finger on top of his deck. "I now declare a card name and look at the top card of my deck. If I'm correct you take 300 points of damage, I gain 300, and I get one Snipe Can Token on my field in defense mode. I continue to do this until I get it wrong, after which my deck is shuffled! I declare Goblin Queen!"

The card that appeared in holographic form over his card was just that. "I was correct!" A can with legs and arms appeared on his field in a crouching position. (0/0)

CJ- 500

Allon- 1000

"I then select Goblin Warrens!" Holding the next card up, he revealed that he was correct. "And once more, another Token comes into play!" A second can appeared alongside the first.

CJ- 200

Allon- 1300

"And finally, I declare Research on the Pot of Greed!" Pulling the top card of his deck free, Allon held it up to reveal that it was indeed that card. "This is the end of the duel, and your title."

CJ- 0

Allon- 1600

The field faded away quietly, revealing that neither Allon nor CJ were smiling. Not a member of their audience made a single sound, instead they seemed to be on the verge of applause except that they just couldn't release all that built up tension just yet. Not until someone said something.

"It looks like you won…with a cheap trick instead of with the power of a monster." CJ snorted and turned away. "Why would you even bother making a beatdown deck if you're gonna win with those kinds of stupid tricks?"

"Are you serious!?" Allon shuffled up his deck and returned it to his pocket. "I just took you down and you're saying I'm not better than you!?"

"You didn't win with Beatdown, so of course!" The two of them picked up into a continuous argument that left the audience sweatdropping while they slowly drifted away as quickly as they could. Because of this, no one even noticed as a thin cool mist quietly drifted along the floor around the unaware members of Team Topdeck. By the time it had completely swallowed the whole of them all up in its cold grasp, they didn't even have a chance to shout in surprise before it had dissipated to reveal they were gone.

_To be continued…_


	3. Introduction to the Charm Five

Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh. I do own the characters shown up to this point though.

("This is bad, this is really bad…") The aquamarine-haired girl paced back and forth across the area where Team Topdeck had been until just a few moments ago. ("Where'd the guy with the gem go!?")

She had felt the energy of Flow right before the five guys had disappeared. ("If she's got them in her clutches it means that the Charm Five already has learned of the fact about how that weird guy has the emerald.") All was lost is that red-haired guy was defeated and the emerald was taken.

Demon Duelist Legacy; Elemental Champions Arc

Chapter 3: Introduction to the Charm Five

"Well this is new…" Deondre ran his hand through the cool mist next to him and withdrew it quickly, shaking feeling back into his instantly frost-bitten fingers. "Anybody have any theories as to where we are or how we got here?"

"I'd venture a guess that it's got something to do with you three," Janeam pointed at the still-arguing CJ, and then at Deondre and Daniel. "I'm sure whoever did this has got some kind of problem with you Demons, right?"

"Actually," A relaxed voice answered from within the white expanse of the mists. "We really don't have any problems with the lot of you. If we did then we wouldn't be kind enough to merely challenge you to a duel." The white clouds slowly withdrew to reveal five shaded forms.

The hairs on the back of his neck standing up Daniel let out a low growl and bared his fangs instinctively at their undetected viewers. ("Why didn't I hear them breathing?") "Who's there?"

Stepping through the mists completely, Umbra ran his fingers through the long strands of his silky black hair in a very relaxed manner. His fine black suit, like the rest of him, seemed unaffected by the freezing nature of the mist. "Greetings, my name is Umbra. I am the leader of the Charm Five."

"Daniel Pilkington, pleasure to meet you," Replying curtly, the half demon slung his backpack over his shoulder and shivered a little. "Now how about you take us back to where we were originally? We don't have any business with you."

"That may be true, but unfortunately I happen to have business with you." Snapping his fingers, Umbra motioned to the approaching forms behind him. "Let me first introduce you to my family, the other Charm Five."

The first to come into clear view was a man with fire-red hair and a long red trenchcoat, his lips curled into a confident and demeaning sneer. "Flare's the name."

Next to him stepped up a woman dressed in a long aqua-blue dress, her green hair flowing around her in a constant pattern of movement. "Greetings, my name is Flow." She lifted a hand to point at Deondre. "Deondre Anderson, the man that defeated Seto Kaiba…correct?"

"Yeah, that's me." Deondre stepped past the rest of his teammates. "Do you have business with me?"

"In fact I do." Flow motioned to a path that opened through the mists. "Follow me please, and bring your deck. I wish to defeat you."

"Defeat me?" Smiling, the dark-haired duelist adjusted his cap and rested the crook of his hand under his chin. "A beautiful woman wishes to take me off out of sight? I think it's more than defeating that you have on your mind, my dear. However I don't blame you for falling for my charming good looks. After all…"

"D, she left." Janeam sighed as Deondre realized he was about to be left behind and rushed off after the woman before the path through the freezing clouds could close.

"Anyway," A towering bronze-skinned sculpture of a man stepped through the mist, his blond curls bobbing up and down almost of their own accord. "My name is Adonis."

"Finally," the mists were blown apart slightly as a grey-haired woman dressed in a silver robe walked past Umbra and bowed slightly to the remaining four Team Topdeck members. "My name is Breeze, a pleasure to meet you all."

Umbra stepped towards Daniel, hand extended. "Now, if you could please give us the Emerald of Wind before your life becomes forfeit, that would be divine." His dark-pupiled eyes narrowed slightly in displeasure at the actions of Flow. She never did focus on business first.

----------------------------------

"This is far enough," Flow whispered out, stopping and turning to face Deondre while the mists around them both withdrew to form into a perfect twenty-foot ring. Lifting up her arm, she revealed the black Duel Disk on her arm. Its most defining feature was the watery-colored jewel installed over the deck slot. "Excuse my suddenness, but I cannot allow the chance to not duel one such as you pass me by."

"So you've heard of my great dueling prowess then?" Activating his disk, Deondre slid his deck into place. It was business now, and despite the fact he was a bit disappointed that his stupid fantasy was obviously not going to come true now, his resolve was ready.

"Actually I was more surprised to hear that one such as you could defeat a duelist such as Seto Kaiba." Flow slid her deck into its slot and activated the device. "Prove to me that your victory wasn't a fluke. Watching the duel, I can only wonder whether or not you merely managed to pull a lucky card and win because of luck alone."

"So this is just a challenge to see if I'm a lucksack or not?" Now Deondre was officially angry at this lady. "Fine, I'll remove your doubts." His voice emphasized the word remove heavily.

"Duel!" They both yelled at the same time, drawing their opening hands while their life points appeared projected over their heads.

Flow- 8000

Deondre- 8000

"I'll be courteous enough to go first, draw." Flow drew her sixth card and held up a magic card almost immediately. "I activate the magic card Spiritual Aura. From my deck I select a monster with a continuous effect that has an attack of 1000 or less and remove it from the game. Afterwards this magic card goes to the graveyard, and while it is in there that monster's effect remains on the field."

"And your choice is?" Deondre didn't seem all that worried, but that was thanks to his deck type. A Different Dimension deck had more than enough ways to remove cards from the opponent's field, hand, deck, and graveyard. That magic card wouldn't last a single turn against him.

"My choice is Barrier Statue of the Torrent." Holding up the card, Flow motioned to the mist around them as it lifted upwards and formed into a series of mysterious wards. These wards formed a dome surrounding them both. "While this card is face-up on my field all non-WATER attribute monsters cannot be special summoned. Therefore Spiritual Aura will stop you from special summoning anything that is not of the WATER attribute."

"Well that's a bit of a disappointment." Deondre ran a finger along the top of the Soul Release magic card in his hand, which would allow him to remove five cards from either graveyard. "Oh well, I guess I'll have to make do without special summoning."

"I wouldn't be so foolish to rely on luck in such a situation." Flow held up a magic card. "Go Dimensional Seal." Sliding the card into her graveyard, she drew one card. "All cards underneath this card in my graveyard cannot be affected by monster, magic, or trap effects. Also I draw one card."

Deondre frowned and shuffled his hand nervously, removing the Soul Release from the forefront. ("So much for that plan.")

"You thought you would easily defeat my lockdown?" Flow held up a magic card with a picture of a Duel Monsters card frozen within a glacial block of ice. "I activate Frozen Greed, discarding a WATER monster from my hand to draw two cards. My choice is Treeborn Frog." Sliding the card into her graveyard, she pulled two new cards from her deck and added them to her hand.

Meanwhile Deondre was getting more and more anxious for his turn to roll around. ("Treeborn Frog will revive to her field during the next turn, so at least now I've got a target for my Soul Release.")

"I set two cards face-down and end my turn." The cold-voice woman, compared to her opponent, seemed far too relaxed. There wasn't the slightest bit of tension that could be seen on her. "What's the matter?"

"Just taking a second to whisper a prayer for you." Deondre drew and snapped up Soul Release. "I activate the magic card Soul Release, removing Frozen Greed and Treeborn Frog from your graveyard!"

"How predictable…" Flow's face-down card was already face-up, and it had already released a spray of icy white mist that had wrapped around the dog demon's arm. "Frostbitten Affliction activates when you activate a card which would affect my graveyard while there are one or more WATER monsters in it. Your card in question is destroyed and one random card from your hand is destroyed."

Deondre barely heard her, his brain screaming in pain while he flailed in a vain attempt to stop the mist from completely freezing his arm solid. By the time it had disappeared there was a thick clump of frost around his bare limb, the Soul Release card already gone and one of his other hand cards also gone.

"That looks rather painful," Flow noticed that he was gritting his teeth while pounding on the ice which had locked his hand into place. "Such a crude method of freeing yourself. How did someone like you ever defeat anyone in the employment of a man such as Giovan Garlin?"

"Shut up!" A red aura flared up around Deondre's body and the ice around his arm liquefied almost instantly, giving him use of his hand again. However the downside was that now he was breathing heavily. ("This is ridiculous…I haven't even taken any damage but I nearly was disabled.")

"Well?" Flow blew him a little kiss, the mist flowing around his legs for a moment before he growled at it and it withdrew a bit. "Will you continue your turn?"

"I summon Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer!" A half-masked monk appeared on Deondre's field, snapping up the beads wrapped around his hand. (1800) "Direct attack! Banishment Ofuda!" The monk threw a small slip of paper with writing on it across the field at the woman duelist.

"Unfortunately you won't get the chance." Flow's other set card flipped up and the entire field disappeared in a roaring torrent of water that completely avoided the two duelists. "Torrential Tribute activates when a monster is summoned. All monsters in play are destroyed."

Drops of frozen water stinging his face, Deondre could only slide a card into his Duel Disk slot. "I set one card face-down and end my turn." A card appeared face-down on his field amidst the quickly freezing spray of ocean water around him. ("It feels so real…too real even for a hologram? Is this a Darkness Game? That would explain the frostbite from her trap.")

"It's my turn, draw." Flow's graveyard released a golden winged frog that floated down onto her field in defense position before its golden aura faded. "During my standby phase the effect of Treeborn Frog activates. If there are no magic or trap cards on my field I can special summon it to my field." (100/100)

"You'll be leaving real soon, little frog." Deondre was more than ready to draw for his turn, and bring the removal of his opponent's constantly reviving monster to pass.

"That will be happening sooner than you think." Flow motioned to her frog and it shimmered out of existence, replaced by a huge spiked mass of ice. "I sacrifice Treeborn Frog to summon Mobius the Frost Monarch! Come out now, Mobius!" The ice mass exploded into little shards, a twelve-foot giant covered in ice armor rising up out of the mist like a phantom. (2400/1000)

"When Mobius is tribute summoned I can destroy up to two magic or trap cards in play! Freeze Burst!" A blizzard emanated from Mobius' body and froze Deondre's face-down card solid, shattering it easily.

"Mobius, direct attack! Ice Lance!" A spear made of ice formed in the Monarch's grasp and he hurled it across the field, the weapon shattering against Deondre's stomach and cutting his clothing and chest with tiny blades of ice.

Flow- 8000

Deondre- 5600

"I set one card face-down on my field." Flow removed her hand from the card she had set into her disk slowly, coldly watching the blood that was dripping down Deondre's clothing freeze slowly. "End turn. I still await this great counterattack."

"Then I'll give it to you with this play!" His pain forgotten, Deondre drew and added the card to his hand before holding up the card next to it. "I activate the magic card Removal Treasury! This card can only be activated if I have no cards in play. At the cost of four cards from my graveyard I draw one card plus one card for every monster you have in play. You have Mobius, so I draw two."

Adding two cards to his hand, he held up Removal Treasury and slid it into his back pocket along with the four cards he removed. "When Removal Treasury goes to my graveyard it instead is removed from play."

"How pleasant, but useless. Having no graveyard won't benefit you in this duel." Flow didn't change her stance or move her eyes, but in her mind's eye her set card's effect continued to play itself in her head. ("With that card I can easily set up for another killing blow.")

"So you say, but I'm sorry to admit I don't believe you, lovely." Deondre held up a magic card. "I activate the magic card Chaos Greed. If there are zero cards in my graveyard and at least four cards in my removed from play pile I draw two cards!" He threw one of the two new cards onto his disk and a blond-haired man wrapped in a long brown torn cloak appeared on his field in a crouching position. "I summon D.D. Survivor in defense mode!" (1800/200)

"Why summon such a weak monster in defense mode, I wonder…" Flow said this nonchalantly, since to be perfectly honest she really didn't care all that much.

"This is why." A crackling rip in the sky appeared above Deondre's field. "I activate the continuous magic card Dimensional Fissure. While this card remains in play all monsters that go to the graveyard are removed from the game! Also I set one card face-down and end my turn."

"Foolish." Flow drew the top card of her deck and immediately motioned to her face-down card. "I activate the trap card Water Bullet! This trap card can only be activated during my turn and if I have at least WATER attribute monster in play! One card on your field is destroyed!" A huge globe of water exploded out of the trap and slammed into Deondre's Survivor, sending him hurtling into the Dimensional Fissure.

"That was a bad idea…" Deondre smirked at the Dimensional Fissure. "He'll be back."

"True, but not before I clear away your cards once more." Flow's graveyard released her Treeborn Frog, which landed on her field next to Mobius. "During my standby phase Treeborn revives, and then during my main phase I activate the magic card Fountain Flow." Mobius turned into a fountain of water that spouted up to reveal that it had Mobius' card riding atop it. "By sending one aqua type monster on my field back to my hand I can draw one card."

Deondre's eyes widened in understanding of what that meant. "You're serious…"

"Of course." Flow didn't flinch at all as her Treeborn Frog was sucked into the Dimensional Fissure and Mobius reappeared in play. "Freeze Burst!" Another blizzard tore across the field, destroying the Fissure and the set card on Deondre's field. "Ice Lance!"

Deondre screamed as another lance shattered into his chest, its shards slashing his legs and upper chest. Collapsing to his knees, he buried his forehead into the ground to try and bury the pain.

Flow- 8000

Deondre- 3200

"I set one card face-down and end my turn." Flow tapped her heel against the ground calmly, more than willing to wait until her opponent regained his senses.

It didn't take long before Deondre was standing up again, a new card in his hand. "Revive yourself, Survivor!" His blond-haired dimension-hopping warrior appeared on his field in a crouching position. "I sacrifice Survivor to summon D.D. Elite!" A crystal-armored warrior riding on top of a giant robotic horse appeared on his field. (2200/1500) "This card can only be tribute summoned and only if I have at least two cards already removed from play. During my turn I may remove up to two cards from my graveyard. For every card removed, until the next turn, D.D. Elite gains 300 attack points!"

He held up D.D. Survivor and Chaos Greed, sliding them into his back pocket. (2800/1500) "D.D. Elite, attack Mobius now! Dimension Crusher!" His monster rode across the field and ran its laser lance through the Monarch, destroying him. "I place one card face-down and end my turn."

Flow- 7600

Deondre- 3200

"Draw." Flow held up a magic card. "Premature Burial lets me revive a monster from my graveyard at the cost of 800 life points, followed which that monster is equipped with this card." Mobius shimmered into play on her field. "Reverse card open, Water Bullet!"

Deondre skidded out of the way as a boulder-sized ball of water engulfed his D.D. Elite and nearly grabbed him too. ("So much for my counterattack…")

Flow- 6800

Deondre- 3200

"And now to destroy your life points. Mobius, direct attack! Ice Lance!" The Monarch formed another spear of ice which it prepped to hurl across the field.

"Reverse card open, Damage Zero!" Deondre's face-down card flipped up to reveal a picture of a giant shining zero. "During this turn I can send two cards from my deck to the graveyard to negate an attack!" Sliding the top two cards of his deck into his graveyard, he didn't flinch in the slightest as the spear disappeared before it could hit him.

"I set one card face-down and end my turn." A card shimmered face-down onto Flow's field. "I suppose you'll show me your power now?"

"Draw!" Deondre snapped the drawn card up and a purple baboon appeared on his field. "Come out now, Bazoo the Soul Eater!" (1600/900) "Once per turn I can remove up to three monsters from my graveyard! I choose the only three in there!" Three cards left his graveyard slot and he added them to his back pocket. "For every card removed Bazoo powers up by 300 points!" The baboon howled loudly and was surrounded by a pulsing aura of energy. (2500/900) "Attack Mobius now!" Bazoo leapt across the field, grabbed the Monarch by an arm, and slammed him face-first into the ground with enough force to shatter him.

Flow- 6700

Deondre- 3200

"Reverse card open!" Flow's face-down card flipped up and Bazoo turned into pure ice. "Arctic Blood activates when an aqua monster is destroyed in battle! The destroying monster is destroyed and its controller takes it original attack in damage!" The frozen Bazoo shattered and sprayed Deondre with what was left of it.

Flow- 6700

Deondre- 1600

"Regardless, I'm not beaten yet!" Deondre held up the remaining card in his hand, revealing the picture of a crystal blue jar. "Jar of Dimension shuffles five removed from the game monsters back into my deck, after which I draw two cards!" Pulling five monsters from the stack in his back pocket, he shuffled them into his deck and drew two cards. "I set one card face-down and end my turn."

"It's time to kill you." Flow drew and held up a magic card. "Frozen Greed lets me discard a WATER monster to draw two cards. My choice is Monarch's Keeper, which when discarded from my hand allows me to add one Monarch in my graveyard to my hand." Drawing two cards from her deck, she grasped the Mobius that slid out of her graveyard as well, putting her hand up to three.

"Once more, another Frozen Greed." Flow discarded another WATER monster, drawing two cards. "The card I discarded was Summon Glacier. When this monster goes to the graveyard I can special summon an aqua type monster from my hand to the field at the cost of my normal summon for the turn. Come out now, Mobius!" Her Monarch appeared on the field in an explosive blast of freezing ice.

"And now for Graceful Charity." Drawing three cards from her deck, Flow slid two of them into her graveyard. "I activate the magic card Snow Spikes! This card can only be activated if Mobius is in play. His effect reactivates! Freeze Burst!"

Deondre gasped as his set card was frozen and shattered.

"And now to enter my battle phase! Mobius, direct attack!" Flow snapped her hand out and aimed at the dimension duelist.

"Sorry," Deondre held up his trap card, along with the five cards that had been in his graveyard. "Time Tear lets me remove any number of cards from my graveyard. For every five removed I can declare one phase, and when that phase would come around for you it is skipped. I removed the only five to end your battle phase before it started. Also, the trap removes itself, so my graveyard is clear."

Narrowing her eyes angrily, Flow lowered her hand slowly to her side. "End turn."

Deondre grabbed the top card of his deck and held it up. "All my hopes rest on this one! Go Hope of the Different Dimension! If there are no cards in my graveyard and at least ten cards in my removed from play pile this card can be activated! All cards in my hand and on my field are removed, and I draw six cards. Afterwards I remove all but three cards from my deck."

Flow watched this with slight disbelief on her face. "It's hard to believe that you could pull off such a move."

"Regardless of whether or not you can believe it, it has happened." Deondre held up a magic card. "And with it I will end this duel! I activate the magic card Removal Spirits! By removing monsters from my hand, for each monster removed, my life points increase by 1500!" He held up two monster cards. "Also, the effect of Removal Spirits removes itself when it goes to my graveyard."

Flow- 6700

Deondre- 6100

"I set two cards face-down and one monster face-down." Deondre smiled at Flow calmly. "I'll show you the power of the different dimension right now."

"Draw!" Flow added the card to her hand…

"Reverse card open! D.D. Dynamite!" One of Deondre's set cards flipped up and started to glow. "For every removed from the game card I have you take 300 points of damage! I have thirty-four cards removed, which translates to 10200 points of damage! Different Dimension Explosion!"

"A nice attempt, but futile." Flow held up a card from her hand and Mobius punched the ground, a giant wall of ice appearing in between their fields. "Ice King's Will is a quickplay magic card that I can play in response to a damage effect to negate it." D.D. Dynamite shattered. "And with that, this duel ends with me the victor."

"What are you talking about?" Deondre motioned to his field and his life points. "How can you defeat me when my life points are this high?"

"Simple, with this card." The card that appeared on her field had a holographic border, the picture that of five towering forms, one of them Mobius, standing in a semi-circle with energy flowing between them. "The crystal card Prism of the Monarchy. If there is a monster in play with Monarch in its title then this card can be activated. I can choose the effect of a different Monarch besides my own and use it. I choose the effect of Umbra's Monarch."

"Who's Umbra?" Deondre blinked down at his deck, which was starting to glow.

"Yormus the Twilight Monarch's special ability is that when it is tribute summoned I can choose one monster, one magic, and one trap from my opponent's deck and destroy them." Three card holograms appeared in front of her. "I choose Dimensional Warrior, Return from the Different Dimension, and Diffusion Dimension Blast. End turn."

Frowning, Deondre looked up at his life point counter, which had changed its message to LOSS BY DECK OUT. "This doesn't look good…"

----------------------

"Such a shame…" His wheelchair propelling him along the smooth marble floor of the hallway, the aged man chuckled dryly while the image in front of him showed the results of the duel between Deondre and Flow. "However you cannot defeat my Charm Five that easily. Raea may have chosen strong duelists, but against these five you cannot win."

The Emerald of Wind would be his, and no one would stop him. With it, he would have all but the last key to open the gateway to the world of dreams…the paradise of spirits, Ethral.

_To be continued…_


	4. Taste of the Truth

Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.

Demon Duelist Legacy; Elemental Champions Arc

Chapter 4: Taste of the Truth

The mist withdrew to reveal a blue-lipped and shivering Deondre kneeling in front of Flow, who sauntered past him to her siblings and crossed her arms across her chest. "My brothers and sister, I present to you the man that defeated one of the world's leading duelists…an obvious lucky break on his part."

"D!" Daniel and Janeam ran over to throw their jackets over their friend. "Are you alright?"

Umbra sighed and stepped forward, his Duel Disk online. "Before any of my other siblings can distract us further from our job, would whichever one of you that has the Emerald of Wind please step forward to duel? If not, then everyone you care about will be killed by us." He sounded completely serious, and barely was affected as Daniel stood up.

"Be careful Daniel…" His teeth chattering loud enough to be nearly grating on the ears, Deondre pulled the coats around him as hard as he could. "These guys have some weird card that lets them access the effects of any of the Monarch monsters, including some weird Monarch I've never heard of."

The half demon kept his face forward, but he did nod in understanding. Lifting up his arm and Duel Disk, his angry eyes met with Umbra. "Are you ready to pay?"

"Your insolence in the face of certain defeat is impressive, but that is all." Activating his disk, the black-suited man drew his opening hand. "Siblings, do not interfere in this duel. I wish to defeat the leader of these protectors so they understand just how outclassed they really are."

Flare and Adonis frowned in displeasure at the idea that their older brother was ordering them around again. Flow merely glanced off to the side like a little girl that had been scorned by a parent, which brought a giggle from Breeze.

On the other side the glares of the members of Team Topdeck were unrelenting. This was the first time ever they'd met Shadow Duelists that were so relaxed.

Daniel- 8000

Umbra- 8000

"It's time to get this started!" Daniel drew and threw the card down horizontally on his disk, a red-suited female superhero appearing on his field in a crouching position. "I summon Elemental Hero Burst Lady in defense mode. End turn." (1200/800)

Umbra drew and opened his field magic card slot, placing a card into it. "I activate the field magic card Temple in the Twilight." The misty nothingness around them became echoing blackness, with the exception of the dueling field, which was illuminated by a circular patch of moonlight. "While this field card remains in play during our end phases we discard the top two cards of our decks into the graveyard. Also, when my effect that would discard cards from my opponent's deck activates one extra card is discarded."

"A discard deck?" Daniel snorted at the darkness around them. "That's your big killing strategy?"

"You'll see shortly that my method of defeating my opponent's is quite effective." Umbra placed a card face-down on top of his disk, a monster face-down on his field. "I set one monster face-down, along with two cards face-down." A pair of cards appeared face-down on his field as well. "During my end phase the effect of Temple in the Twilight activates."

A pair of cards from the top of Umbra's deck slid into his graveyard slot slowly. "End turn."

"I'll show you what effective is." Daniel drew and held up a new monster card, which appeared on his field in a blast of wind. It was a blue-armored hero with a pair of fans attached to his back. "I summon Elemental Hero Airman in attack mode!" (1800/300) "When Airman is summoned I may choose one of his two effects and use it on you. My choice is his first effect, which for every Elemental Hero on my field besides this monster destroys one magic or trap card in play!" He pointed up above them. "Your field card is toast!"

"I beg to differ," Umbra's hand tapped a button on his disk and one of his set cards flipped up, releasing a howling ghost made of black energy that slammed into Airman and blew him apart. "Spirit of the Darkness activates when the opponent tries to destroy a magic or trap card on my field with a monster effect. That effect is negated, the monster destroyed, and from my deck one level four or lower dark attribute spirit monster is added to my hand."

A card left his deck, which he held up to reveal a man holding a disk with carvings on it that resembled the motions of the moon. "Tsukuyomi is my choice." Shuffling it in with the other cards in his hand, he held up a finger chidingly. "You cannot defeat my cards that easily."

"Maybe not, but I can do this!" Daniel motioned to his Burst Lady, which had stood up and was flexing her hands strongly. "Burst Fire!" The hero hurled a pair of red fireballs across the field that crashed into the set monster and incinerated it, but before the monster disappeared it revealed itself to be a purple worm with three needles sticking out of its body. "Wait, wasn't that…"

"That's right, it was Needle Worm." Umbra held up the monster to prove this fact. "Needle Worm's flip effect is that you discard the top five cards of your deck, but thanks to the Temple you discard one additional card."

Concealing his growl amidst the shuffling of his hand cards, Daniel did so and left his deck six cards lighter. "I set one card face-down and end my turn."

"Not quite," Umbra held up his disk and tapped the field magic card slot. "Or have you forgotten?"

Stopping himself from replying with something less than gentlemanly, Daniel slid three cards from his deck into his graveyard. "There, happy now?"

"Quite." Umbra drew and held up his Tsukuyomi card, the depicted monster appearing on his field with a brush of its dark robes. (1100/1400) "When my spirit is summoned I select one monster in play and flip it face-down." Burst Lady disappeared, replaced by a horizontal brown-backed card. "Tsukuyomi, Moonlight Tides!"

The spirit lifted its disk and a ray of moonlight from the same source as the circle came down to pierce the set monster, shattering it.

"Reverse card open!" Daniel's set card flipped up and projected a circle of light of its own, this one a shimmering H that reached high into the sky. "Hero Signal activates when a monster on my field is destroyed as a result of battle and sent to the graveyard. From my hand or deck one level four or lower Elemental Hero monster is special summoned!"

A blast of lightning hit his field and formed into a blue and yellow-armored superhero with energy crackling from between his hands. "Elemental Hero Sparkman comes out!" (1600/1400)

"Interesting, and now that I know what your face-down card was I can activate my trap card without worry." The face-down card on Umbra's field flipped up to reveal a picture of a crow picking up a partially shattered crystal. "Remains of Yata-Garasu has two effects. Either I may draw one card or if there is a spirit monster in play I draw two cards. Obviously I meet the second effect's requirements."

Pulling two cards from his deck, he held one of them up. "I activate Quick Summon, normal summoning one monster from my hand to the field." His Tsukuyomi faded into the darkness, and a hulking black-armored form slowly appeared in sight. "I'm sure you were warned about my Monarch, my avatar, but regardless here he is. Yormus the Twilight Monarch, emerge now!"

Daniel paled at the hideous red and black knight-like monster. "What is that thing?"

"It is the Monarch of darkness, and with its power you will lose this duel even faster!" (2400/1000) Umbra lifted his hand and motioned to his monster, which howled and threw its claws up into the air. "The effect of Yormus is that when he is tribute summoned I select a monster, a magic card, and a trap card from your deck. Those cards go the graveyard! Reach of Darkness!"

A large number of holograms appeared in front of the man, and he reached out to touch three of them. "Elemental Hero Bubbleman, Miracle Fusion, and Spirits Fusion all go to the graveyard. Also, because the effect discards from your deck the effect of my field card forces one extra card to your graveyard."

Daniel slid those named cards into his graveyard, and then after shuffling followed up with the top card of his deck. "Fine, and now you attack."

"That's correct." Umbra pointed at Sparkman. "Twilight Crusher!" Yormus lifted its claws and the darkness around the hero formed into a similar pair of claws that crushed the life out of Daniel's monster.

Daniel- 7200

Umbra- 8000

"When Yormus deals life point damage the receiver discards the top card of their deck, so if you would be so kind as to do so." Umbra grasped a card from his hand while Daniel begrudgingly discarded the top two cards of his deck. "Now I activate the magic card Eclipse Rebirth, which lets me add a dark spirit monster which was sent to my graveyard during this turn to my hand." Holding up Tsukuyomi, he showed it off before adding it to his hand and sliding a card into his disk. "I place one card face-down and discard the top two cards of my deck before ending my turn."

Daniel grabbed the top card of his deck, grimacing at his opponent. "I activate the magic card Draw Dummy, drawing the top card of my deck and replacing it with this face-up card."

"To buy yourself time?" Umbra glanced at the dwindling deck of his opponent. "That is a luxury you cannot afford right now."

"Not quite." Daniel grabbed the card he had drawn and placed it down on his disk. "I special summon Elemental Hero Glitterman!" A blast of pink and purple sparkles appeared on his field, forming into a superhero with similar colors on his body. (300/300)

"Well this is new," Allon commented. "I've never seen this hero before."

"When I have no cards on my field Glitterman can be special summoned from my hand. Also I can activate one of his three effects when he is summoned this way if there are least three Elemental Heroes in my graveyard. I choose his second effect." A card slid out of Daniel's graveyard, which he added to his hand. "From my graveyard one magic card that fusion summons a monster is added to my hand. Obviously my choice is Miracle Fusion."

Then his Glitterman rapidly dissolved, replaced by a red and bone-armored superhero that was crouching on his field. "I tribute summon Elemental Hero Necro Darkman to my field, set one card face-down, discard the top three cards of my deck, and end my turn." (1600/1800)

"Then it's my turn, and with it we'll continue this game." Umbra drew and tossed Tsukuyomi down, the spirit appearing on his field. "My choice is obviously Necro Darkman." The superhero shimmered and was replaced by a face-down horizontal card.

"Even if he's face-down I'll still get his effect, so you really only got a monster in play." Daniel's smirk faded quickly as Umbra's second face-down Remains of Yata-Garasu flipped up. "Two more cards then?"

"That's right," Drawing twice, the man added one of them to his hand and inserted the other into his disk. "Nobleman of Crossout destroys and removes one face-down monster on the field from the game! My choice should be obvious!" The face-down Necro Darkman dissolved as it left the game.

"This is getting depressing…" CJ sat down next to Deondre and yawned. "So all our lives rest on Daniel's shoulders, and he's getting kicked down pretty easily."

"Maybe so, but don't count him out yet," Teeth chattering, Deondre pulled the coat around himself as tight as possible. "He's gotten out of worse situations than this mild threat."

"That's enough." Umbra pointed at Daniel. "Yormus and Tsukuyomi, direct attack!" The two monsters released a pair of purple energy beams which combined and crashed into Daniel's field, burying him momentarily in darkness.

Daniel- 3700

Umbra- 8000

As the darkness faded, it revealed that Daniel had a card face-up on his field now. "Sorry Umbra, but you just triggered my continuous trap. It's called Source of Light. When I take damage from a dark attribute monster it can activate. Whenever a dark monster attacks me while this card is face-up in play I can draw one card." Pulling two cards from his deck, he grinned at his opponent. "Sure, I took a lot of damage, but this duel isn't quite as over as you might wish."

"True, but if you'd please follow through with the effect of Yormus…"

"Right." Daniel discarded the top two cards of his deck into his graveyard slot. This left him with nine cards in his deck.

"I set two cards face-down; discard the top two cards of my deck, and during the end of my turn Tsukuyomi returns to my hand." The spirit disappeared and Umbra picked up his card, adding it to his hand.

"Draw!" Daniel held up a magic card with a picture of five Elemental Heroes standing with the sun behind them. "The magic card Hope of Fifth requires I shuffle five Elemental Heroes from my graveyard to my deck, after which I draw three cards." He held up Bubbleman, Sparkman, Glitterman, and two unidentified Elemental Heroes, shuffling them into his deck and drawing three cards.

"And now for Sparkman to come out!" Daniel's lightning superhero appeared on his field in a burst of energy. (1600/1400) "Also I use the equipment magic card Hero Bravery. By discarding one Elemental Hero from my hand to the graveyard when the equipped monster attacks I can, instead of doing battle, destroy the attacked monster and deal you half its original attack in damage! Go Sparkman, Brave Spark Flash!" The superhero leapt towards Yormus.

"Reverse card open!" One of Umbra's two set cards flipped up to reveal a trap with the image of a leering face projected in a dark sky. "Doom Visage activates when Yormus is attacked! I may negate the attack, destroy the attacking monster, and for every level of that monster you discard the top card of your deck plus three, and with my field magic card that is a total of eight cards!"

The rest of Team Topdeck gasped while the trap released a howling spear of darkness that pierced Sparkman's chest and destroyed him instantly. After which the top eight cards of Daniel's deck disappeared, leaving him with only two.

"It might be hopeless but at the same time now I've got you right where I want you!" Daniel slid a card into his disk and it appeared face-down on his field. "From my hand I activate Polymerization, fusing Elemental Heroes Bubbleman and Glitterman together!" The two named heroes appeared in the air above him, being pulled into a swirling vortex that spat out a glittering pink hero surrounded by sparkles and bubbles. "Elemental Hero Fairyman arrives!" (1300/1200)

The hero lowered onto his field and lifted up a small golden wand in his hand. "When Fairyman is summoned I may send a magic card on my field or in my hand to my graveyard to draw two cards." Holding up another Polymerization card, he slid it into his graveyard but didn't draw anything. "Instead of drawing I can choose to destroy two cards in play!"

Umbra frowned as Yormus howled in pain and shattered, as did the Temple in the Twilight. This left all of them standing back in the cold white mist. "You annoyance, even though you're on the verge of losing you still have the gall to destroy my avatar?"

"And if I do? It's your turn, by the way." Daniel smiled at the fact that he no longer had to discard cards from his deck. "Come on; show me what you've got."

"Taunting me is unwise." Umbra drew and held up Tsukuyomi, which appeared on his field. "First let's flip that annoyance face-down." Fairyman disappeared, replaced by a set monster card. "And then I open Remains of Yata-Garasu!" His face-down card flipped up and he pulled two cards from his deck. "I activate the magic card Dark World Lightning!" A crash of black energy rained down from the sky and shattered the set Fairyman. "One face-down card in play is destroyed and afterwards I discard a card from my hand."

The card that went into his graveyard slid back out and a giant golden demon appeared on his field. "When Goldd is discarded from my hand by a card effect he is special summoned! Come out now!" (2300/1400) "And now for the end! Goldd, direct attack! Tsukuyomi, direct attack!" The two monsters released their respective attacks and pounded Daniel's body relentlessly, sending him flying backwards into the mist.

Daniel- 300

Umbra- 8000

-------------------------

"_Once upon a time there was paradise, where the dreams of those which entered it came true. It was Ethral, and I was its guardian. The Pegasus of Wind, one of the Elemental Champions whose very existence was a key factor in Ethral's life. Yes, it was a living world."_

_Daniel floated in the darkness, a cold breeze on his cheeks. Forcing his eyes open, he realized that he had to have been floating hundreds of feet in the air. All around him the stars twinkled like little jewels, and this brought his mind back to the cause of all this. ("The Emerald of Wind, that's what they called it right?")_

"_There were four other guardians besides myself, heralds of the times of day. The Wind Emerald was born of the twilight, the Water Sapphire of the evening, the Light Diamond of noon, the Fire Ruby of morning, and the Earth Topaz of dawn."_

_("Where am I? Why am I hearing all this?") Daniel already felt himself slipping backwards, as if he was waking from a dream. "Who are you?"_

"_I am the Guardian of the Wind. You carry my body with you. While you are not yet ready to use my full powers, brave warrior, I will give you this gift. Use it to protect the Emerald. Do not let them have it, or else your world and mine will be destroyed."_

-----------------------------

"It looks like this is the end then?" Umbra slid two cards into his disk, though Daniel had yet to return. "I set two cards face-down and at the end phase of my turn Tsukuyomi returns to my hand." Picking the spirit card back up, he added it to his hand. "Come now, you should still be alive."

Stumbling out of the mist and looking extremely dazed, Daniel clutched the side of his head with one hand while trying to clear his vision. "Not…yet…"

"This Umbra guy hasn't taken the slightest bit of damage…" Janeam frowned and started to lean over to whisper something concerning escape plans to Allon. That is until he realized that Breeze was watching him coldly. "I guess not…"

"When you hit me with the attack of Goldd I draw one card with Source of Light's effect." Pulling a card from his deck, Daniel looked down at the remaining card in his deck. For a moment his vision blurred, and he nearly fell over, but through sheer force of will he remained standing. ("One left, one chance to survive, and if I mess this one up then we all pay.") He grasped the card in his fingers, drawing it but not looking at it yet. ("For everyone's sake, please let this card be enough!")

Umbra narrowed his eyes slightly as he felt the mist around him starting to be pushed backwards by a steadily growing force of wind emanating from his opponent's body. ("This energy is the Emerald of Wind's…which could only mean that…")

Looking at the cards in his hand, Daniel's eyes widened massively as it dawned on him what he could do. And once he figured it out he couldn't stop smiling. ("This last card definitely isn't one of mine, but that's fine. If it'll save everyone else's life then I certainly won't shun it!") "From my hand I activate Miracle Fusion!"

"Finally!" Deondre knew that card was capable of just what its name said, miracles. "What took you so long?"

"I just needed to figure out who I was going to remove from my graveyard to summon." The half demon held up the solid stack of cards that was his graveyard. "Thanks to you, I've got my entire arsenal minus one at my disposal! I remove Elemental Heroes Featherman, Tornadoman, Airman, and Bubbleman from my graveyard!"

All around them the mist was quickly blown away by the power emitting from his hand, and from his field as a green-armored and almost angelic humanoid form appeared. "Elemental Hero Stratosphere is fusion summoned!" The superhero spread his absolutely massive wings with a roaring battlecry. (2800/1000)

"When Stratosphere is summoned the field magic card Earth's Battlefield in my sidedeck activates!" Opening his field magic card slot, the half demon inserted the called card and all around them the mist-filled emptiness was replaced by a view of the planet Earth from space. "While this field is in play with Stratosphere he gets some pretty nifty effects, the first of which being that he gains 1000 attack points." (3800/1000)

"Reverse card open!" One of Umbra's set cards flipped up. "Book of the Moon will flip your precious monster face-down, leaving it useless to you!"

"Really?" Daniel smirked as Stratosphere flapped one wing at the face-up magic card and it shattered. "While Earth's Battlefield is in play with Stratosphere my field cannot be affected by your magic cards. That's another effect of my combination."

"Heh, he made you look like a fool, Umbra." Flare snickered and pointed at his elder brother mockingly. "You keep telling us to keep our tempers in check but look at you, going crazy over the silliest things."

"You wanted this emerald so bad, right?" Daniel held up the gem and flicked it up into his grasp. "Then let me give it to you. As a cost for my next card two removed from the game monster cards under my control are sent to my graveyard." Sliding two cards into his graveyard slot, Daniel held up a magic card with a picture of a glittering Emerald Pegasus flying across the night's sky. "Emerald Twilight equips only to a wind attribute monster, my Stratosphere."

Behind him a snarling phantom form appeared, this one of a familiar hero from before. "The effect of Necro Darkman is that when he is in my graveyard I can normal summon a high level Elemental Hero from my hand without tribute. Since it's obvious that I returned him to my graveyard as Emerald Twilight's cost I'll just show you who's coming out!" The golden sharp-armored form of Elemental Hero Edgeman appeared on his field and bellowed out its warcry. (2600/1800)

"And finally, for my last trick," A magic card appeared on his field and Stratosphere's wings spread out even farther. "I equip the card Megamorph to Elemental Hero Stratosphere, doubling his original attack since my life points are lower than yours." (6600/1000)

Umbra was already ready for this. ("When he attacks I'll use the power of my set Mirror Force to clear his field in one fell swoop.") This kind of brute force tactic was useless against him, the leader of the Charm Five.

"Stratosphere, attack Goldd!" The fusion superhero flapped his wings and created a spinning maelstrom of power that tore across the field towards the demon. "Earth Shooter!"

"Reverse card open, Mirror Force!" Umbra's set card flipped up and he calmly pointed at the two monsters on Daniel's field. "With this your chances of winning are zero."

"Not quite," Daniel smirked as the Mirror Force card exploded. "Emerald Twilight's equipped monster, when it battles, selects and destroys one magic or trap card in play without chain. As a bonus, the destroyed card's controller takes 1000 points of damage."

Umbra flinched in pain as his Mirror Force shattered and sprayed him with its pieces.

Daniel- 300

Umbra- 7000

Stratosphere's Earth Shot engulfed Goldd, the demon howling in protest before it was lost forever within the endlessly spinning vortex of wind. "When Stratosphere destroys a monster as a result of battle that monster's controller takes 1000 points of damage."

Daniel- 300

Umbra- 1700

As the dust caused by Goldd's death disappeared, Umbra regained his sight just in time to realize that Edgeman was launching towards him. The golden hero's form was reflected in his dark eyes for a moment…

And then Edgeman stopped moving, its blades just inches from slashing the Charm Five member's ribcage open.

"What happened?" Allon looked over at Umbra to see if there was some kind of hidden card in effect. But the duelist looked just as surprised as the rest of them did.

Edgeman groaned and skidded forward just a bit closer, but Umbra had already backed up a couple of steps that to the slow-moving hero was like a mile in distance.

Breathing raggedly, Daniel collapsed to his knees and tried to move. Not a part of him was responding though. ("Attack Edgeman…finish him off! Please, for everyone's sakes, attack!") Shaking like he had the chills, the half demon fell onto his side and stiffened. It was useless. Unless he made the verbal order to attack then his monster wouldn't finish the duel.

Umbra, his shaken composure regained, realized what had happened. "It seems you reached your limit. Or didn't you realize that you were using your own power in this duel? Oh well, you came close but in the end it seems that your frailty as a duelist led to your defeat." His Duel Disk beeped to indicate that his opponent's turn was over because of time and he drew, while Edgeman shimmered back onto its master's field.

A familiar magic card with a picture of an angel holding a glowing card in her grasp appeared on his field. "I activate Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding two." Sliding two cards into his graveyard, he held up a magic card with a picture of Yormus slowly rising out of a casket. "At the cost of eight cards from my deck I can special summon Yormus from my graveyard to play with the magic card Casket of Twilight." Doing so, he snapped his hand up coldly. "Yormus returns!" (2400/1000)

While his Monarch reappeared in play he held up a magic card with a picture of a purple jar with jewels for teeth. "Pot of Avarice shuffles five monsters from my graveyard to my hand, after which I draw two cards." Quickly doing so, he held up one of the cards to show a picture of a shiny-armored knight being engulfed within a cloak of black cloth. "Displacement Cloak is a monster that can be discarded from my hand at the cost of my normal summon for the turn to send a monster in play back to its owner's hand. That owner may then choose to draw cards equal to that monster's level divided by three." Edgeman disappeared, its card grasped within Daniel's trembling hands.

A prismatic bordered card that was very familiar to Deondre appeared on the field. "Prism of the Monarchy lets me select one Monarch's effect if mine is in play, after which I can activate it. My choice is Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch!" Yormus held up one clawed hand and released a blast of fire that hit the single card in Daniel's hand, revealing it to be obviously Edgeman. "One random card from your hand is discarded. If it is a monster then you take its level times 100 in damage. Edgeman is a level seven; therefore you take 700 points of damage."

Daniel- 0

Umbra- 1700

While the field around them both faded the rest of Team Topdeck rushed towards their friend. At least half of them had pondered rushing Umbra and breaking his head in, but Daniel's safety was first.

Umbra straightened his tie and looked back at his siblings, who were all smiling smugly at him in their own ways. In Flare's and Adonis's cases it was an outright smug grin, while Flow and Breeze just gave him a look that said he had been extremely lucky. "He was wielding the power of the Emerald of Wind, after all."

"I suggest you hurry and get your prize then, brother." Flare walked past Umbra. "Otherwise I'm going to take it from right out under you."

"Is he breathing?" Deondre clenched his teeth to stop them from chattering while Janeam pressed his ear against their friend's chest to check for a heartbeat. When he got an affirmative both he and CJ cracked their knuckles at the same time before bringing their now red-glowing eyes to bear on the Charm Five.

Adonis laughed heartily and stepped up to Flare, flexing his meaty hands. "This should be lots of fun, don't you think? I'm used to wrestling bears, but I've heard demons are even stronger than that."

"That they are." The red-haired duelist cracked his neck and was about to throw the first punch. "I want to bust these two in, and without a doubt that it what is going to happen."

All potential hostilities suddenly ended as the five members of Team Topdeck were blinded by a blast of aquamarine wind that hurled them flying into the air. There was a moment of weightlessness and then a lurching feeling as they were pulled out of the dimension.

Flare and Adonis looked completely surprised, but Umbra already knew what the cause was. "Raea risks much by using her powers to withdraw her protectors from our grasp." He looked back at Breeze, who was already fading into green wisps of air. "Find them." Reaching into his coat, he removed his cell phone and flipped it open. He was sure that their employer wasn't going to like this development.

_To be continued…_


End file.
